201. Fossilized Mammalian Erythrocytes Associated With a Tick Reveal Ancient Piroplasms
- Author
-
George Poinar
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,0301 basic medicine ,Nymph ,Erythrocytes ,Ixodidae ,Zoology ,Tick ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Piroplasmida ,03 medical and health sciences ,Genus ,parasitic diseases ,medicine ,Animals ,Body cavity ,Fossil Record ,General Veterinary ,biology ,Host (biology) ,Fossils ,Dominican Republic ,social sciences ,biology.organism_classification ,Amber ,Platyrrhini ,Dominican amber ,030104 developmental biology ,Infectious Diseases ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Insect Science ,Parasitology - Abstract
Ticks transmit a variety of pathogenic organisms to vertebrates, especially mammals. The fossil record of such associations is extremely rare. An engorged nymphal tick of the genus Ambylomma in Dominican amber was surrounded by erythrocytes from its mammalian host. Some of the exposed erythrocytes contained developmental stages of a hemoprotozoan resembling members of the Order Piroplasmida. The fossil piroplasm is described, its stages compared with those of extant piroplasms, and reasons provided why the mammalian host could have been a primate. The parasites were also found in the gut epithelial cells and body cavity of the fossil tick. Aside from providing the first fossil mammalian red blood cells and the first fossil intraerythrocytic hemoparasites, the present discovery shows that tick-piroplasm associations were already well established in the Tertiary. This discovery provides a timescale that can be used in future studies on the evolution of the Piroplasmida.
- Published
- 2016